Author: Nancy Lou Henderson | Page 24

New Year’s Eve, Chapter Three

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 8 comments

About a month or so after our first date and during our Christmas break, Jimmy, Frank, and I went to a New Year”s Eve 1967 party in Houston, Texas, which was at my cousin and her husband’s house. We left Van Vleck and went to my cousin’s home, together in my brother’s car. My cousin and her husband already knew Frank because they had met him at my Grandfather’s funeral in December so that Frank would not need introductions. After we arrived at the party, everyone was already in party mode and munching on snacks that my cousin had provided for everyone. The...

A Long Way Home, Chapter Four

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 4 comments

One night after Frank and I left Cains where we had sat and visited with our friends, he asked me if I wanted to take a different road on our way back to Van Vleck to take me home. Frank told me it was a shell road and it was a nice scenic drive which would take us a back way into Van Vleck. Something told me that maybe Frank had something more on his mind than looking at the scenery, especially since it had been raining and there was a creepy fog hugging the ground which made it hard to see anything. I told Frank, “I don’t think we will be able to see anything with the...

February 7, 1968, Chapter Five

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 2 comments

In mid-January 1968, Jimmy and Frank were supposed to register to go back to school at Wharton County Junior College, but after talking with the registrar and my Dad, they decided to enlist in the Army. It seems that they had been spending more time drinking Tall Boy beer and playing pool at a place nearby the college than going to classes. Their grades had also suffered severely. Since going to college and making good grades was their only deferment from being drafted, it was in their best interest to just join the Army. Frank and Jimmy went to a recruiter to talk to him about their best...

Rabbit Hunting, Chapter Six

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 5 comments

Time was moving very fast for us now, and we had so much to do before Frank would leave for Army Basic Training. We only had eleven more days to spend together before Frank would go. I knew some of Frank’s family from the church, but others who lived in close nearby towns wanted to meet me and were inviting us to their homes for supper. An Aunt and Uncle of Frank’s who lived in Sweeny, Texas, were the first to invite us to supper. Frank and I had a great time at his Uncle and Aunt’s home in Sweeny, and after it got dark, we left their home then headed back to Van Vleck....

First Letters from Basic, 1968

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 4 comments

Frank had boarded an airplane at Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, in the afternoon of February 25, 1968, and my brother, Jimmy, was with him. The airplane took off and headed for Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where they would do their Army Basic Training. He wrote his first letter to me aboard that airplane. He was worried, nervous, and a little scared of what was to come at Fort Leonard Wood. February 25, 1968 Dear Nancy, This letter is coming to you from 33,000 feet in the air. I’m writing this at 6:15 P.M. from this sickening thing they call a jet. Let me tell you, it was and...